wrote:

Oh, I LOVED the Galaxy V mark II.

The FT-101, Galaxy, Drake, and Swan are not $100 pieces of gear on
EBay, they are more like $300 to $400 pretty consistencly. I think a
fully loaded multiband fresh boatanchor should sell quite nicely for
$199.95 it if offers compareable features. That would imply a
wholesale price of about $100.00. That would imply that parts, labor,
and other indirect costs should be somewhere between $50 to $80. I
think I can get from Russia or China a single sweep tube plus a handful
of smaller tubes for about $30. The rest would have to be chassis,
discretes, power, labor, shipping, and customs.

Now, if I market direct through the net rather than through a retailer,
I think I could go self sustaining after a few build-sales cycles.

Since I dove into this water...I'll continue my nay-saying even tho I
love BAs.

You say FT-101, etc...aren't $100 pieces of gear on ebay. Thats too
broad and maybe your perspective is different than mine. As found
Galaxy V are lucky to get $100, as are HW-100. FT-101, Kwood TS-520,
Swan 350-500, Drake TR-3/4 will garner twice that in "last time I fired
it up it worked" condition. I've given away two Galaxy V in as found
condition this year because they couldn't be sold at any price.

I'm not clear if you are suggesting building these things from scratch
or taking older xcvrs and refurbing them. If you haven't walked this
talk I suspect you'd find out very quickly that paying $35 for an old
Galaxy and refurbing it at maybe a cost of a dozen hours of labour you
might get $125 on resale on a good day when there are no other buyers
that could do the same thing for their own purpose.

To do an equivalent Galaxy 5 from scratch for $199 commercial resale?
No way.

If the people on this topic would be willing to be a focus group for
the fresh boat-anchor of thier dreams, I would be quite grateful.

Well, you have my input. I'll never discourage rolling your own but
trying to make a bizness out of it is a whole nuther can of worms.

-Bill WX4A

Bill ) writes:

You say FT-101, etc...aren't $100 pieces of gear on ebay. Thats too
broad and maybe your perspective is different than mine. As found
Galaxy V are lucky to get $100, as are HW-100. FT-101, Kwood TS-520,
Swan 350-500, Drake TR-3/4 will garner twice that in "last time I fired
it up it worked" condition. I've given away two Galaxy V in as found
condition this year because they couldn't be sold at any price.

And of course, people want the boatanchors because they are old, because
they are the rig they had when they were first in the hobby or because
they lusted after the rig decades ago but couldn't afford it. I suspect
that is the major reason, rather than because they are tube-based. Take
away that familiarity, and the interested number will also drop.

People will pay more now the more expensive it was in the first place, but
that may be as much because fewer bought them back then (hence fewer
exist) than because they are better rigs.

Michael VE2BVW

Michael:

How about a thought experiment? Assuming we don't consider copyright,
patent, trademark, or other issues. Say God gave me the gift of being
able to create a Collins-class rig at 1/2 to 1/3 the usual price on
Ebay? Would that be tempting?

The Eternal Squikre

And of course, people want the boatanchors because they are old
Collectors rather than operators, right?

they are the rig they had when they were first in the hobby
Yes, but also because they found later, purportedly more modern
equipment,
to be harder to operate or repair, or easier to break, with replacement
parts
and labor costing more than the rig itself?

they lusted after the rig decades ago but couldn't afford it.
And still can't, in the case of Collins for example.

I suspect that is the major reason, rather than because they are tube-based.
Really? I think it takes a different mentality to operate a tube rig
than a semiconductor or digital rig. I really think the casual tube
rigs were easier for children and adolescents to operate on HF. I had
the worst time trying to understand an ICOM during my 20's, for
example.

Take away that familiarity, and the interested number will also drop.
But what if I kept the familiarity of operation rather than the
familiarity of brand name? Would it drop drastically?

The Eternal Squire

You say FT-101, etc...aren't $100 pieces of gear on ebay. Thats too
broad and maybe your perspective is different than mine. As found
Galaxy V are lucky to get $100, as are HW-100. FT-101, Kwood TS-520,
Swan 350-500, Drake TR-3/4 will garner twice that in "last time I fired
it up it worked" condition. I've given away two Galaxy V in as found
condition this year because they couldn't be sold at any price.

Found condition is the key. I'm sorry, but I got into bidding wars at
least 3 or more times trying to get a Yaesu in guaranteed working
condition with recent maintenance.

I'm not clear if you are suggesting building these things from scratch
or taking older xcvrs and refurbing them. If you haven't walked this
talk I suspect you'd find out very quickly that paying $35 for an old
Galaxy and refurbing it at maybe a cost of a dozen hours of labour you
might get $125 on resale on a good day when there are no other buyers
that could do the same thing for their own purpose.

Nope, I am indeed talking scratch.

To do an equivalent Galaxy 5 from scratch for $199 commercial resale?
No way.

Why not?

Well, you have my input. I'll never discourage rolling your own but
trying to make a bizness out of it is a whole nuther can of worms.

Oh, and I so much appreciate that. That is not sarcasm.

The Eternal Squire

wrote:



To do an equivalent Galaxy 5 from scratch for $199 commercial resale?
No way.


Why not?

At this point you are daydreaming. Start pricing the components.
You'll likely exceed $199 before you add in any labour.

-Bill

On 23 Nov 2005 20:46:29 -0800, wrote:



The FT-101, Galaxy, Drake, and Swan are not $100 pieces of gear on
EBay, they are more like $300 to $400 pretty consistencly. I think a
fully loaded multiband fresh boatanchor should sell quite nicely for
$199.95 it if offers compareable features. That would imply a
wholesale price of about $100.00. That would imply that parts, labor,
and other indirect costs should be somewhere between $50 to $80. I
think I can get from Russia or China a single sweep tube plus a handful
of smaller tubes for about $30. The rest would have to be chassis,
discretes, power, labor, shipping, and customs.

Wouldn't the power supply for a 100-watt tube rig, alone, eat up much
of your cost?

I've built a number of solid state kits recently, and one advantage to
them is a simple 12-volt supply or wall wart is typically all you
need.

bob
k5qwg



Now, if I market direct through the net rather than through a retailer,
I think I could go self sustaining after a few build-sales cycles.

If the people on this topic would be willing to be a focus group for
the fresh boat-anchor of thier dreams, I would be quite grateful.

The Eternal Squire

Good point about the power supply. But here's a wild idea: what about
using a space-charge tube lineup. Now that could operate off 12V
(altho 5 AMP)! I
suppose I could also get a fair amount of output operating a mini power
pentode
in space charge mode in class E. Nobody told me that class E was only
for semiconductors!

The Eternal Squire

wrote:

Good point about the power supply. But here's a wild idea: what about
using a space-charge tube lineup. Now that could operate off 12V
(altho 5 AMP)!


Back in the car radio days transistors were the output of choice even
when the rest of the tube lineup was space charge tubes. Can't get much
power with that scheme. Not impossible for a QRP rig though!

-Bill

I think a fully loaded multiband fresh
boatanchor should sell quite nicely for
$199.95 it if offers compareable features.

Wow, pie-in-the-sky pricing!

My guess is that if you wanted to replicate a mid-60's vintage Swan 350
from scratch (but using actually obtainable final tubes rather than
sweep tubes) you'd be looking at several tens of thousands of dollars
in up-front tooling and it'd cost about $2000 or $2500 for each one you
produce.

They listed for $420 (just for the rig, add on more than a hundred more
for VOX, speaker, power supply) in 1965. They had a good run, and a
decade later were being offered (with some updates) about a decade
later when they stopped selling them because at that price hardly
anyone was buying them. What makes you think that the sheet metal,
transformers, parts, etc. are going to be cheaper today?

Producing it in China might let you sell it at a less-than-$2000 price
point.

If you're looking to do a Collins-class rig, you'll never get the extra
$ for the effort because it's still "not a Collins", and even at
overinflated E-bay prices the Collins rigs will still be cheaper.

Tim.